08 Mar10 - Two Dogs, One Bone (PRETOURNAMENT)

Volume XII, No. 19 - 08 Mar 10: PRETOURNAMENT - [] Top 25 Ballot

Two Dogs, One Bone

The last week of the regular season in the BCS leagues and conference tournament play in the 1BC leagues produced some big one-off matchups.

North Carolina led early (and 42-31 at the half) on the road at Duke in the ACC showdown. The Blue Devils eventually tied the game up at 57-57 midway through the second half and took the lead 68-66 with five minutes to go. From there, UNC pitched a 10-0 shutout to win 76-@68 and claim the conference title. pTy Lawson(10p3a) is back playing meaningful minutes now, but it was tDanny Green(18p1a7r7b) who made the difference in this one. The Blue Devils "limited" cTyler Hansbrough to 16p15r by not sending him to the free throw line; but when the Tar Heels have a four-way attack with cHansbrough, gWayne Ellington(16p), pLawson and tGreen, and show some fortitude on defense!?, they are a formidable team playing its best at the right time. North Carolina now has the inside track on a #1-seed and staying home for the Charlotte Regional. (Duke could still get it back, but only if they face UNC in the ACC final and make a statement win there.)

Is UCLA "The Duke of the West"? (Heh.) Well, they trailed for most of both games over the weekend yet came away with two victories both thanks to unquestionably erroneous calls. Stanford bolted out 12-2 and led 30-18 at halftime on the road, but couldn't close out the game for the win. Give the Bruins full credit for coming back (and take note that Stanford is quite vulnerable when things get too athletic up and down the court), but even so it took a phantom foul call on fLawrence Hill to send gDarren Collison(24p) to the line for two free throws to send the game into overtime, where UCLA prevailed @77-67(OT) to claim the Pac-10 title. Against California next time out, gJosh Shipp's game-winning shot from behind the backboard and over the top of it was technically illegal, but the refs counted it and the Bruins escaped with an @81-80 win. Now that gCollison is fully healthy, the Bruins should have no problem living up to their expected #1-seed and reaching their third straight Final Four.

Georgetown and Louisville played a tight game that was decided on gDaJuan Summers' game-winning three-pointer as the Hoyas won @55-52 and claimed the Big East regular season title. GTOWN, which can get caught up playing too much of a finesse game, only shot 5 free throws; and LVILLE struggled from outside (4-for-18 on three-pointers). No other league has as many quality teams all playing well right now, but it will be tough for that to remain the case through this week -- some very solid teams are bound to take some shellack losses in the Big East tournament. (Don't read too much either way into the results from this week.)

Memphis nearly lost at UAB the first time around, but the return game at home was no contest, @94-56. Yes, Conference USA is pretty weak overall, but give the Tigers credit for rolling through an undefeated 16-0 conference season. That's never easy to do, no matter the competition -- only Davidson(20-0 in the SoCon) and Cornell(14-0 in the Ivy League) were able to accomplish that among all 31 conferences this year. The Tigers deserve a #1-seed (probably #1 overall to boot). UAB and Houston should both get into the NCAA field as well (as long as they hold up their end and meet in the C-USA semifinals).

Tennessee's dominance of the SEC along with its signature win at Memphis should be enough to garner the fourth #1 seed. Kansas is probably a stronger team overall, but the Jayhawks wound up in a tie for the Big 12 title with Texas (and are only the #2 seed in the conference tournament due to their head-to-head loss). Duke and Texas have issues with size in the paint; and Wisconsin had the misfortune of playing in a league where its main competition never elevated themselves to elite status. This season has been very deep as far as quality teams at the top, in the middle, and even some veteran 1BC's have returned to the scene as well.

The Anti-Spoilage Report could have been worse. Drake absolutely took care of business, winning the Missouri Valley tournament 79-49 over Illinois State in the final, earning the first NCAA bid in 37 years for the school. The Bulldogs (like Purdue and Butler) don't beat you with individual physical talent; they just execute deliberately and efficiently and everyone can shoot three pointers. (They'll be a tough out in the NCAAs, especially for an impatient opponent.) VCU committed the most egregious faux pas, losing (in front of a hometown crowd in Richmond, no less) to William & Mary, 54-@56 in the Colonial semifinal. Thankfully, George Mason (which still has some key players left from their '06 Final Four run) made the CAA final and had a chance to go out in style with a return to the NCAAs. St. Mary's, which lost a lot of its lustre when it fell at home to Kent State in BRACKETBUSTERS, blew a huge lead in the West Coast semifinal and fell to host [3]San Diego 69-@75(2OT). Gonzaga made the WCC final, though, giving bubble teams everywhere a second chance to keep the order. Both Davidson and Butler rolled into their conference finals looking like they'd be able to take care of business as well, keeping the Southern Conference and Horizon League as 1BCs where they belong this year. Kent State deserves the one-bid that the MAC ought to earn, but if Akron or Ohio U win their way in past the Golden Flashes, that wouldn't be undeserving.

After being swept head-to-head in the regular season, Winthrop looked like it was passing the baton to UNC-Asheville for league supremacy of the Big South. But the veteran Eagles (who made a first-round splash in last year's NCAA tournament) showed their mettle with a runaway 66-@48 win on the road in the conference final (behind 33p;6/9 3s) from gMichael Jenkins. It's their fourth straight NCAA berth and eighth trip in the past 10 years. Belmont has a veteran team as well (which won on the road this year at Alabama and Cincinnati) and came through convincingly to win the Atlantic Sun final @79-61 over Jacksonville. The Bruins are making their third straight trip to the NCAAs themselves. Austin Peay completed its domination of the lowly Ohio Valley, winning 82-@64 over host [6]Tennessee State. (The Governors should avoid the Play-In game; instead, they might wind up facing state "rival" Tennessee in a #1-#16 matchup.)

It's conference time for the Big Boys, and even though all of the top leagues are headed by dominant #1-seeds (and some very good #2-seeds as well), some of them are quite up for grabs. "Who's the best league?" is a perennial question. In the preseason, the ACC looked strong by winning four tournaments and the Atlantic 10 stepped up as "The Seventh Major". Conference play has muddied the reputation of the middle-of-the-pack teams in both of those leagues, however. No one below third-place Clemson seems consistent in the ACC; and the A-10 might even slip to 1BC if the wrong teams advance in the conference tournament. This time of year, one way to assess the relative strengths of the conferences is to look at the seeds in their tournaments. Seeds #2-#4-#8 give you a good read. I'll take the Big East (Louisville-Connecticut-Villanova) barely over the Pac-10 (Stanford-USC-Washington), then the Big 12 (Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas Tech), ACC (Duke-Virginia Tech-Wake Forest), Big 10 (Purdue-Michigan State-Iowa) and SEC (Mississippi State-Arkansas-LSU) in that order.

Not many mid-majors have a shot at an at-large bid this year. Instead it's Oregon (yes) battling the likes of Syracuse (yes), Oklahoma (yes), Ohio State (no), Virginia Tech (no) and Arkansas (no).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

WCC TOURNAMENT Final @ San Diego CA (San Diego)
- ([1]Gonzaga-@[3]SanDiego),
SOCON TOURNAMENT Final @ Charleston SC
- ([1]Davidson-[7]Elon(NC)),
COLONIAL TOURNAMENT Final @ Richmond VA (VCU)
- (@[3]GeoMason-@[5]William&Mary(VA)),
MAAC TOURNAMENT Final @ Albany NY)
- (@[1]Siena-[2]Rider),

Monday-Tuesday:

SUN BELT TOURNAMENT Semis,Final @ Mobile AL (South Alabama)
- (@[E1/1]SAlabama-[4]MidTennessee, [W1/2]ARLittleRock-[3]WeKentucky),
SUMMIT TOURNAMENT Semis,Final @ Tulsa OK (Oral Roberts)
- (@[1]OralRoberts-[5]IPFW, [2]IUPUI-[3]Oakland),

Tuesday:

HORIZON TOURNAMENT Final on-campus)
- (@[1]Butler-[2]ClevelandSt),

Tuesday-Wednesday:

BIG SKY TOURNAMENT Semis,Final at #1-seed (Portland State)
- (@[1]PortlandSt-[4]IdahoSt, [2]NoArizona-[3]WeberSt),

Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday:

WAC TOURNAMENT @ Las Cruces NM (New Mexico State)
- (Tue (1st/16s):
- - [8]SanJoseSt-[9]LouisianaTech,
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - [1]UtahSt-[8]/[9], [2]Nevada-[7]FresnoSt, @[3]NewMexicoSt-[6]Idaho, [4]BoiseSt-[5]Hawaii),

Tuesday-Saturday:

MEAC TOURNAMENT Final @ Raleigh NC
- ([1]MorganSt, [2]Hampton, [3]NorfolkSt),

Wednesday:

NEC TOURNAMENT Final on-campus
- (@[3]SacredHeart-[4]MtStMarys),

Wednesday-Saturday:

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT @ New York NY
- (Wed (1st/16s):
- - [5]WVirginia-[12]Providence, [6]Marquette-@[11]SetonHall, [7]Pittsburgh-[10]Cincinnati, [8]Villanova-[9]Syracuse,
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - [1]Georgetown-[8]/[9], [2]Louisville-[7]/[10], [3]NotreDame-[6]/[11], [4]Connecticut-[5]/[12]),
PAC-10 TOURNAMENT @ Los Angeles CA
- (Wed (1st/16s):
- - [7]Arizona-[10]OregonSt, [8]Washington-@[9]California,
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - @[1]UCLA-[8]/[9], @[2]Stanford-[7]/[10], [3]WashingtonSt-[6]Oregon, @[4]USC-[5]ArizonaSt),
A-10 TOURNAMENT @ Atlantic City NJ
- (Wed (1st/16s):
- - [5]StJosephs-[12]Fordham, [6]Charlotte-[11]RhodeIsland, [7]LaSalle-[10]Duquesne, [8]Dayton-[9]StLouis,
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - [1]Xavier-[8]/[9], [2]Temple-[7]/[10], [3]Massachusetts-[6]/[11], [4]Richmond-[5]/[12]),
C-USA TOURNAMENT @ Memphis TN (Memphis)
- (Wed (1st/16s):
- - [5]SoMississippi-[12]Rice, [6]UTEP-[11]SMU(TX), [7]Tulsa-[10]ECarolina, [8]Marshall-[9]Tulane,
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - @[1]Memphis-[8]/[9], [2]UAB-[7]/[10], [3]Houston-[6]/[11], [4]CFlorida-[5]/[12]),
MWC TOURNAMENT @ Las Vegas NV (UNLV)
- (Wed (1st/16s):
- - [8]Wyoming-[9]ColoradoSt,
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - [1]BYU-[8]/[9], @[2]UNLV-[7]TCU, [3]NewMexico-[6]Utah, [4]SanDiegoSt-[5]AirForce),
MAC TOURNAMENT @ Cleveland OH
- (Wed (1st/Qtrs):
- - @[5]MiamiOH-[12]Buffalo, [6]CMichigan-[11]NoIllinois, [7]EaMichigan-[10]BallSt, @[8]Toledo-@[9]BowlingGreen(OH),
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - @[E1/1]KentSt-[8]/[9], [W1/2]WeMichigan-[7]/[10], @[3]Akron-[6]/[11], @[4]OhioU-[5]/[12]),
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT @ Anaheim CA
- (Wed (1st/16s):
- - @[5]UCIrvine-@[8]LongBeachSt(CA), @[6]CalPolySLO-@[7]UCRiverside(CA),
- Thu (Qtrs):
- - @[3]CalStFullerton-(lowest_seed), @[4]Pacific-(highest_seed),
- Fri (Semis):
- - @[1]UCSantaBarbara-(lowest_seed), @[2]CalStNorthridge-(highest_seed)),
SWAC TOURNAMENT @ Birmingham AL
- (@[1]AlabamaSt),

Thursday-Sunday:

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT @ Kansas City MO
- (Thu (1st/16s):
- - [5]Baylor-[12]Colorado, [6]TexasA&M-[11]IowaSt, [7]Nebraska-@[10]Missouri, [8]TexasTech-[9]OklahomaSt,
- Fri (Qtrs):
- - [1]Texas-[8]/[9], @[2]Kansas-[7]/[10], @[3]KansasSt-[6]/[11], [4]Oklahoma-[5]/[12]),
ACC TOURNAMENT @ Charlotte NC
- (Thu (1st/16s):
- - [5]MiamiFL-@[12]NCState, [6]Maryland-[11]BostonCol, [7]GeorgiaTech-[10]Virginia, @[8]WakeForest-[9]FloridaSt,
- Fri (Qtrs):
- - @[1]NCarolina-[8]/[9], @[2]Duke-[7]/[10], [3]Clemson-[6]/[11], [4]VirginiaTech-[5]/[12]),
BIG 10 TOURNAMENT @ Indianapolis IN
- (Thu (1st/16s):
- - [6]Minnesota-[11]Northwestern, [7]PennSt-[10]Illinois, [8]Iowa-[9]Michigan,
- Fri (Qtrs):
- - [1]Wisconsin-[8]/[9], @[2]Purdue-[7]/[10], @[3]Indiana-[6]/[11], [4]MichiganSt-[5]OhioSt),
SEC TOURNAMENT @ Atlanta GA (GA DOME)
- (Thu (1st/16s):
- - (1:00P): [W4]LSU-[E5]SCarolina
- - (3:15P): [E3]Vanderbilt-[W6]Auburn
- - (7:30P): [E4]Florida-[W5]Alabama
- - (9:45P): [W3]Mississippi-@[E6]Georgia,
- Fri (Qtrs):
- - (1:00P): [E1]Tennessee-[W4]LSU/[E5]SCarolina
- - (3:15P): [W2]Arkansas-[E3]Vanderbilt/[W6]Auburn
- - (7:30P): [W1]MississippiSt-[E4]Florida/[W5]Alabama
- - (9:45P): @[E2]Kentucky-[W3]Mississippi/@[E6]Georgia,
- Sat (Semis):
- - (1:00P): [E1]Tennessee//[W4]LSU/[E5]SCarolina v [W2]Arkansas//[E3]Vanderbilt/[W6]Auburn
- - (3:15P): [W1]MississippiSt//[E4]Florida/[W5]Alabama v @[E2]Kentucky//[W3]Mississippi/@[E6]Georgia
- Sun (Final):
- - (1:00P)),

Thursday-Friday, Sunday:

SOUTHLAND TOURNAMENT @ Houston TX
- (@[W1/1]StephenFAustin-@[8]TXSanAntonio(TX), @[E1/2]Lamar-@[7]TXArlington(TX), @[3]SamHoustonSt-[6]McNeeseSt, [4]SELouisiana-[5]NorthwesternSt(LA)),

Friday:

PATRIOT TOURNAMENT Final on-campus
- (@[1]American-[3]Colgate),

Saturday:

AMERICA EAST TOURNAMENT Final on-campus
- (@[1]MDBalitmoreCo-[2]Hartford),

Sunday:

(NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET SELECTION),
(NIT BRACKET SELECTION),
(COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL BRACKET SELECTION).

---

FINAL TOP 25 - 08 Mar 10: PRETOURNAMENT - [] Column

1. Memphis (30-1)
2. North Carolina (29-2)
3. UCLA (27-3)
4. Tennessee (27-3)
5. Kansas (27-3)
6. Duke (25-4)
7. Wisconsin (26-4)
8. Texas (25-5)
9. Georgetown (25-4)
10. Louisville (24-7)
11. Stanford (24-6)
12. Washington State (23-7)
13. Xavier (26-5)
14. Connecticut (24-7)
15. Notre Dame (23-6)
16. Michigan State (24-7)
17. Purdue (24-7)
18. Marquette (19-8)
19. Drake (25-4)
20. Indiana (24-6)
21. Vanderbilt (25-6)
22. Gonzaga (25-6)
23. BYU (25-6)
24. Butler (27-3)
25. Davidson (23-6)

Honorable Mention:

USC (20-10), Pittsburgh (21-9), Clemson (20-8), Kent State (24-6), West Virginia (20-9), Mississippi State (21-9), Syracuse (19-12), Kansas State (18-10), St. Mary's (23-6), VCU (23-7), South Alabama (23-5), Stephen F. Austin (21-4), Winthrop, (19-11), Belmont (20-8), Austin Peay (23-10).